Organisers give Murray a clean sheet

Dubai: Tournament organisers and owners Dubai Duty Free have given Great Britain's Andy Murray a clean sheet despite the player claiming he has used the event as a training experiment for the bigger ones in the season.

"We've all read the after-match comments Andy made to the media and Andy's management company is saying these were taken out of context. He has always been very direct with the Press and there is no question that he did not give all his efforts in the match against Janko Tipsarevic. I think if anybody is saying that then it is wrong," Colm McLoughlin, Managing Director, Dubai Duty Free told Gulf News yesterday.

"The stuff that I was doing in the matches here are similar to what I'd be doing if I was training this week," Murray had said after falling in three sets to Tipsarevic on Wednesday.

"Some of the after-match comments seem to indicate that he is using our tournament as a warm-up for the other tournaments. That's been denied by him and his managers," McLoughlin stated.

For the record, four-time Dubai winner Roger Federer had come under severe criticism after losing 3-6, 1-6 in 53 minutes against Rainer Schuettler in the second round here in 2002.

"Andy tried his best and anyone who watched the match can vouch for that," the tournament organiser said. "We look forward to welcoming Andy back at the Championships next year."

The week before last, Murray, who had had taken a two-week break since losing in the final of the Australian Open to Federer, left it till the last moment before withdrawing from the Marseille Open.